54 Renegade Loads?
 

Having some trouble with my 1/48, 54 Rene. It has a nice clean barrel with good rifling.

I've struggled with PRB's after working though all kinds patches and lubes.

Thought I'd try some conicals. Great Plains and REAL's both fit very loose and shoot poorly.

I does like Harvester Red sabots and the big chunk of lead they have for the 54. ( can't remember exactly how heavy ).

Anyway, is mine the only one with a large barrel diameter? Those conicals shouldn't be that loose.

Any other suggestions?

When you were shooting patched roundball, what powder, charge, and patch were you shooting. Not all of the Renegades will behave and you have to experiment with them sometimes. Mine also shoots the red sabots and large chunks of lead. But 90 grains of 2f powder, and a patched roundball is normally very accurate.

I always shot the .430 gr maxi in mine with 90 gr pyrodex.

I'll see what i can come up with in a week or 2. I have a 54 renegade coming in. Will be interesting.

I have had several 54 cal 1:48 Thompson center barrels. I have never had one that would not shoot a PRB good enough to hunt with. Actually all have shot really well. All of mine have liked a .530" or .535" ball with a .015" or .020" patch with around 90-100 grains of FFG. I have never had a 1:48 T/C that would not shoot a PRB with great accuracy and I have had them all from .45 cal to .58 cal. Play around with ball diameters, patch thickness, and powder charges and you will find what you are looking for. Also with the shallow groove with the T/C barrels I have found that depending on the barrel you may have to clean after every shot to every 4-5 shots. All barrels are different.

Josmund, by any chance were you using Triple Seven? With patched balls I've always had better luck with Pyrodex RS than with T7.

With my Renegade, I am shooting 90 grains of Goex 2F Black, Ox-Yoke .015 pre-lubed patch and .530 ball, at 50 yards shots touch, and I can keep them within 2-3" at a 100 yards

Thanks guys,

Looks like the answer is to go back the drawing board with the PRB.

I have been shooting Pyro RS with PRB's and now have a a can of Swiss I to mess around with.

If anyone wants to try some 54 300 gr. REALs shoot me a PM and I'll send some your way.

I have a Traditions .54 cal. with a 24" 1 in 48 inch twist and have had problems working up a good load for round balls with it. When I was trying to find a good load for round balls I tried some sabots also. They shot extremely well. I was using the orange .45/.54 Thompson Center Mag Express .54 caliber sabot and a .45 cal. 240 grain XTP with 3f Goex. I was disappointed because I bought the rifle to shoot round balls with. My next step will be to try some old blue jean patches and see what happens. Here's 2 targets at 100 yards.
3 shot group.

2 shot group.

A .54 Renegade, my first ML, came w/ strict instructions to shoot PRB w/ 95 gr Pyrodex.
So I did. And after 10 shots or so my shoulder hurt; groups were OK but not great at 50 yds .
The day I decided to sell that rifle I took it out one last time but loaded w/ 75 gr instead. Groups tightened considerably as I recall and it was actually enjoyable to shoot.